Sightseeing

I took 32 pictures on my vacation in Spain, if you count the six taken by other people and shared with me. I'm sure my photo-loving relatives are disappointed in me. Still, here are the best six.

Every day, I walked about 45 minutes (3km/2.5 miles) to my school. A good chunk of the trip was through the Retiro Park, which are a royal park now opened to the public. It's sort of like Central Park, but filled with statues and formal gardens.

I passed my exam! This means that I have completed Level A1, the first of six official levels in Spanish. My eventual goal is to complete four.

 Last Thursday was a national holiday, so I did some sightseeing and lunching with friends. It was delightful, but was yet another data point in support of my rule to never eat at a restaurant in Europe with English language menus.

 The Cervantes monument, where Cervantes overlooks Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. If I keep studying Spanish, I'm told I must read this book, but the teachers gave us permission to read a student version because the language is so antiquated.

Another pretty building. My school offered quite a few walking tours, which let me meet people and gave me more exercise, dyo I could keep eating pastries and drinking wine.